I Loved Him Too
by KangarooGirl
Summary: Vince has a secret that only Leon knows about, so when Vince doesn’t survive his injuries Leon steps up to the plate. Follow Leon’s journey as he turns his life upside down fulfilling a promise he made to his friend. ON TEMPORARY HOLD
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer - I don't own any characters that you may recognise, any you don't are mine. I'm not making any money from this story so don't sue me - I've nothing worth taking unless you count two manky dogs and you're more than welcome to them! Be warned though, they smell and bark a lot! This story takes place immediately after the end of the film.**

**I'd like to dedicate this story to a very special friend - she's been with me through the many ups and downs of the past few months and she's someone that I not only trust with my life but I love more than I ever thought possible. True friends are very rare in this life and when you find them you need to grab hold and not let go. This story is for you sweetie - I hope you enjoy it and don't forget "real men wear chainmail".**

Chapter 1

After dropping Letty and Dom back at the warehouse Leon headed back into LA, Dom had given him hell for not taking Letty to the hospital but Leon had other more important things to do. He had to get to Rebecca and tell her what had happened. Someone had to tell her that Vince was seriously hurt, and quite possibly dead.

He was halfway to Rebecca's house before he plucked up the courage to phone the hospital. He didn't want to know what they were going to tell him, Dom had said in the car on the way back to the warehouse that Vince wasn't looking good and he wasn't sure he was strong enough to hear that his friend had been killed. With a heavy heart that he dialled the number for the main trauma centre in LA.

It was a good half an hour before his tears had slowed enough for him to be able to see clearly enough to drive. The words of the ER receptionist were burned in his brain and he knew that he'd never be able to forget them "I'm sorry Mr Anderson but your friend was dead on arrival at the hospital, the doctors did everything they could but his injuries were too severe. There was nothing they could do."

Dom had killed him as sure as if he'd shot him himself. No-one had wanted to do the final heist, they'd all said it felt wrong but Dom had insisted – said it was the motherload and that after that they'd be set for life. The selfish bastard had put his own greed above his friends and family and now Vince was dead, Letty was battered and bruised, Mia was heartbroken and he had to tell Rebecca that Vince was dead. The man that she loved and planned to marry was dead.

It was late by the time he got to Rebecca's, the whole house was in darkness and it was obvious that she'd turned in for the night. Part of him wanted to turn around and head back to the fort, just grab his stuff and go but he knew that if didn't tell Rebecca no-one would. He was the only one left who knew anything about her and he'd once promised Vince that if anything happened to him that he'd look after Rebecca, "If anything goes wrong Leon, I need you to look after Bex for me. She's not strong enough to deal with it all by herself, she'll need you." Leon had agreed instantly, never once thinking that something would go wrong and he'd find himself having to make good on his promise.

After pulling up onto the driveway he walked round to the back of the house and quietly slipped in through the open kitchen window. He'd have to have words with her about that, if he could get in then anyone could and he wasn't always going to be there to keep her safe. Rebecca's house was small, a lot smaller than the fort – only 1 bedroom and no basement – but it was much more of a home than the fort was. The lounge was full of photos of her and Vince laughing and smiling, he looked so different to the Vince that worked at DT and raced with Dom. He didn't have a care in the world and was obviously happy with Rebecca. The photo in the centre of the mantle piece caught his attention – it was Vince and Rebecca and him and his girlfriend Stacey, '_fuck_' he thought, '_forgot all about Stacey'_. He'd been seeing her for a few months now and whilst they weren't serious or even exclusive he'd been working his way up to that. He was starting to get tired of his player reputation and seeing Vince with Rebecca had made him think more about settling down. The photo was 3mths old and had been taken the day that Vince had introduced Rebecca to Leon. It was also the day that he'd told him that he was going to be a dad.

When he thought about Vince's baby his heart broke a little more. He'd never get to hold his child or even find out if he had a son or a daughter. His child had been robbed of its chance to know its father because Dominic Toretto had wanted to make some easy money. If only he'd let the other team members race they wouldn't have had to jack trucks, hell if Mia had learnt to cook decent food they wouldn't have had to jack trucks. The store had done a roaring lunch trade before Mia had decided to take over the cooking. Within a month the store was losing money hand over fist and had gone from making a profit of over $2000 a month to not making enough to cover the lighting bill.

Leon knew he couldn't put it off any longer as he slowly turned towards the stairs. He had to tell Rebecca what had happened, tell her why he'd broken into her house in the middle of the night and tell her why her lover wouldn't ever be coming home again. After taking his boots off he headed up the stairs to Rebecca's room. He had no idea how he was supposed to tell her that V was dead but he knew that the longer he left it the harder it would get.

He stood in the bedroom doorway for nearly an hour just watching her sleep. Her bump was really starting to show now and was peeking out from under the top of her short pyjamas. She looked so peaceful and Leon knew that the minute she woke up and found out about Vince her life would never be the same. When he sat on the bed next to her he had every intention of waking her up, even when he stripped down to his boxers he was still going to wake her up and tell her. It was only when he slipped under the covers with her and she snuggled up against him that he knew he couldn't tell her just yet. He wasn't sure if it was feeling the baby kicking against him, the way she dragged his arm over her body to rest on her bump or the way she whispered "I love you V" in his ear before she fell asleep again but he knew that he couldn't tell her just yet. She deserved one more night thinking that everything was fine, one more night thinking that V was still alive and that her baby still had a daddy, just one more night before her turned her world upside down with the news that the man she loved more than anyone else in the whole world was dead.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Rebecca was already awake when Leon opened his eyes, she'd realised part way through the night that the man she was curled up with wasn't Vince. The body didn't feel right and his breathing was all wrong but what had really given the game away was when she'd realised he hadn't said "I love you" back. Vince always said that, no matter how tired he was or how angry he was with the world. He'd not had much affection growing up and he was determined that Rebecca and his baby would always know how he felt about them.

When she'd seen it was Leon in her bed she'd known instantly that Vince was dead. She knew that just after they told Leon she was pregnant that V'd asked him to look after her if anything went wrong and he wasn't able to be there for her and the baby. Every night there was a heist she'd expected Leon to wake her up and tell her that V had been hurt or arrested, she even left her kitchen window open so he could get in the house without anyone seeing. Seeing Leon lying in her bed could only mean one thing – V was dead. If he'd only been injured or arrested Leon would have woken her up, the fact that he'd let her sleep could only mean that there was nothing she could do.

Leon hadn't slept at all well that night, every time he'd closed his eyes he'd been haunted with images of his friend trapped on the side of the truck, screaming at Dom to help him. He'd been nearly level with the front of the truck when Letty had rolled her car and Dom had sent him back to get her out of the wreckage. He was still trying to get her out when he'd seen Brian's orange supra go flying past headed towards Vince and the truck. By the time he'd caught up with them Brian and Mia had already gotten Vince free and had him laying on the grass. Even though he was 50 feet away he could still see the blood and hear Vince's screams.

He'd seen the look on Mia's face when the helicopter had taken off and he knew that he had to get to Rebecca but he was torn between his loyalty to Vince and his loyalty to the team. It was only when Dom had confided in him that he didn't think V would make it and that they had to get to Mexico as soon as possible that he'd decided the team could manage without him. He was all Rebecca had now and she needed him. The team could be alright without him but without V, she had no one.

When Rebecca felt Leon's arms tighten around her she knew that he was awake. For nearly half an hour she'd been wanting him to wake up, to tell her what had happened to Vince but now that he was awake she didn't want to know. She wasn't ready to hear that the man she loved more than anyone else wasn't coming home to her. She didn't want to know but she knew that she couldn't put it off any longer.

"How did he die?"

"He got shot, I'm so sorry Becca, there was nothing I could do." Leon desperately wanted to tell her the truth but he'd no idea how much she knew about the teams' illegal activities and he didn't want to be the one to tell her that the man she loved was a violent criminal. She knew that V liked to fight, she'd been the one to patch him up after his fight with Brian outside the diner but there was a world of difference between a fist fight and Vince's role in the truck heists.

"Was it the cops or the truck driver?" Leon had to struggle to make out Rebecca's words, her face was buried in his neck and heartbreaking sobs racked her body.

Once he'd worked out what she said Leon realised that V must have told Rebecca everything about the truck heists. He wasn't surprised that she knew the truth, Vince hated liars more than anything and he would have had to lie to her a lot to explain away his absences and extra money.

"It was the truck driver, he had a shotgun – V didn't stand a chance. I'm sorry, Becca – I'm so fuckin sorry."

Leon was in tears by the time he'd finished telling Becca everything that had happened to Vince, she deserved to know the truth about how Vince had died but he hated making her cry. He'd never been able to deal with women crying and having a pregnant woman sob in his arms was pretty much his worst nightmare.

It was mid afternoon before Rebecca fell into an exhausted sleep, over the previous 7 hours she'd cried, screamed at Leon, even hit him a few times and all he'd been able to do was hold her. He'd have done anything to have been able to take her pain away, if he could have taken swapped places with Vince he would have – Vince had had so much to live for and it wasn't right that he'd been the one to die. Out of everyone on the team Vince was the only one with an actual future and it had all been torn away from him, if only Dominic had listened when they said it hadn't felt right

The next few days all seemed to blur into one, what with identifying Vince's body and arranging his funeral it seemed that all they were doing was crying and trying to sleep. Leon was doing his best to make sure that Rebecca was eating properly but she really wasn't interested in anything he made for her. It was only when he threatened to have her admitted to hospital that she'd finally started to eat. She'd already lost Vince and he wasn't going to let her put his baby at risk.

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The build up to the funeral was every bit as horrific as Leon had thought it would be. It was incredibly tense and emotional and several times Leon had found himself grabbing his keys wanting to leave LA and head to Mexico to join the rest of the team. It was only V's words echoing in his head and the photo of the pair of them on the mantelpiece that stopped him – "If anything goes wrong Leon, I need you to look after Bex for me. She's not strong enough to deal with it all by herself, she'll need you." He barely knew Becca yet V had trusted him enough to look after her and the baby. He could have asked Dom, they'd grown up together yet he'd chosen to ask Leon. Knowing V had so much faith in him only made Leon more determined not to let Becca down. If he had to give up everything to make sure that she and the baby were ok then he'd do it – he'd given V his word and he wasn't going to back out now.

The funeral was going to be a quiet affair – just Leon, Becca and Hector saying a final goodbye to a man who'd touched all of their lives. Becca already knew that the team didn't know anything about her and as Le had thrown away his cell phone in temper after he'd spoken to the hospital they had no way of getting hold of him. What she hadn't understood, until Le had sat her down the previous night and explained, was why none of V's family would be there. They'd had a huge falling out years before and he hadn't spoken to his parents for nearly 7 years. When Le had told Becca a lot of V's comments began to make sense – he'd always said that a family wasn't dictated by blood, it was people that made a family not shared DNA.


End file.
